First, his Senators fail to draw a full house for the home opener against their provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Then they can’t sellout a visit by the Montreal Canadiens.

Attendance for those games was announced at 17,618 and 18,195, respectively, and in both cases it seemed a little generous. But no matter. A capacity crowd ALWAYS shows up to see the Buds and the Habs. Except these days, apparently.

Meanwhile, truly embarrassing was the turnout for Tuesday’s contest with the Arizona Coyotes. Announced attendance was just 11,061 - again, generous.

The result of the 3-2 OT pre-season loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday afternoon at the Canadian Tire Centre doesn’t mean a whole lot in the big scheme of things, but it was the decision to sit winger Bobby Ryan and defenceman Cody Ceci for the whole first period that will have a lasting effect.

Late for a 12:30 p.m. meeting, both were told by Boucher they’d be spectators — on the bench — for the first period against the Habs. Though they saw a regular shift afterward, Ryan (11:59 of ice time) and Ceci (14:46) got the message and, in many ways, it couldn’t have worked out better for Boucher.

He’s a stickler for details and he wants everything done correctly.

“I don’t mind it. I guess the early message is, ‘There’s a way I’m going to do things,’” former NHL forward Ray Ferraro, an analyst on TSN’s Senators broadcasts, said Sunday from Vancouver. “I don’t know how much you’ve been around Guy but I get the impression his shoelaces are tied exact on each side.

“That’s where being late is not going to happen, being sloppy is not going to happen. There’s going to be all kinds of mistakes on the ice because there always is but the approach he’s always had is about what many coaches have today and that’s being super-detailed.”

The calls for Clarke MacArthur to retire have already been heard since he suffered his fourth concussion in 18 months Sunday.

He wants everybody to know he intends to be back as soon as he can.

As the Senators prepared to face the Montreal Canadiens Thursday night at the Bell Centre in a pre-season game, the veteran winger took to his Instagram account around lunch time to say he’s on the road to recovery and he’s hopeful if all goes well he’ll be able to play again soon.

Helped off the ice, and looking dazed, after being hit in the corner by blueliner Patrick Sieloff on Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre as part of a Red and White scrimmage being held during Fan Fest, MacArthur has a long road ahead if he’s going to pull on the No. 16 jersey again.

The 31-year-old MacArthur — who suited up for only four games last season after suffering a concussion on Oct. 14 against the Columbus Blue Jackets — wanted to let people know the severity of this concussion hasn’t been nearly as bad as some he has dealt with in the past.

Nobody wants to see MacArthur risk hurting his head again. If, after taking almost a full year off to recover from the last one, he couldn’t make it through a training camp scrimmage without having his eggs scrambled (a term he would use), MacArthur needs to make the most difficult decision of his life. He has to hang up his blades for good.

Forgive the pun, but it’s a no-brainer. He’s had nine good seasons in the NHL. With his hockey knowledge and winning personality, he could easily get another, safer job in the game.

I don’t say suggest this lightly. I know how competitive he is and how much he’ll miss the game. But I care more about the man and his health than the Senators won-loss record.

After missing most of last year with post-concussion syndrome, the Senators forward had to be helped off the ice by his teammates after taking a huge hit from blueliner Patrick Sieloff during a training-camp scrimmage on Sunday morning.

MacArthur was down in the corner and was unable to leave without assistance from his teammates. Given his history with concussions, there are concerns about his career. This wasn’t a good sign and MacArthur didn’t return to the scrimmage.

It appeared to be a blindside, ugly hit by Sieloff, a defenceman.

So upset was Senators winger Bobby Ryan with Sieloff, who was acquired from the Calgary Flames in the deal for Alex Chiasson this summer, they dropped the gloves near centre.

OTTAWA – Ottawa Senators (@Senators) general manager Pierre Dorion announced today that the club has agreed to terms with defenceman Cody Ceci to a two-year contract which will run through the end of the 2017-18 National Hockey League season. The average annual value of the contract is $2.8 million ($2.25M, $3.35M).

Ceci, 22, established new NHL career highs in goals (10), points (26) and penalty minutes (18) while matching his career high for assists (16) over 75 games with the Senators during the 2015-16 season. Upon the conclusion of the season, he also skated with Team Canada at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Moscow/St. Petersburg, Russia. In 10 games with Team Canada, he scored one goal and earned five assists while helping the team to a gold medal.

The Ottawa Senators are built like a team that is ready to contend. The problem is, their recent history suggests they are in no position to do that.

The Senators have a veteran roster that has missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in two of the past three seasons, but it is one new general manager Pierre Dorion said is ready to make a move and challenge the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

He made that clear by acquiring center Derick Brassard from the New York Rangers on July 18 in a trade for center Mika Zibanejad, getting a player who is better now but six years older and therefore likely with a lower ceiling than the player traded away. On top of that, Dorion included a second-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, getting a 2018 seventh-round pick back.

"I think the message from management is pretty clear: Our time is now," Brassard told TSN 1200 the day he was traded. "I do think this team is mature now and we have to win next season."...

A team with so few young players has pressure on it to win immediately, and Dorion has no interest in alleviating that pressure.

"Why can't we be good now?" Dorion told TSN 1200 on the day of the trade. "We've been young and hungry. We've been the 'Pesky Sens.' Why can't we, first of all, make the playoffs and challenge the better teams?

Derick Brassard, who took a step backward last year even while recording a personal-best 27 goals that led his team, is gone, off to Ottawa for Mika Zibanejad. It was a center-for-center swap in which the Blueshirts came away with the younger, faster, bigger and cheaper player, plus a 2018 second-rounder, to boot.

Cap space was cleared, $2.375 million of it with the newest Swede to join the team in at $2.625 million for the year while Brassard carries a $5 million hit. The Blueshirts now have a fair amount of maneuverability both immediately and into the season. But the added space is more a byproduct of the deal than the motivating force behind it.

The Rangers wanted — if not needed — a different kind of center behind Derek Stepan and they got it in Zibanejad, who is stronger without the puck and in his own end and projects to be feistier and tougher than the gifted, finesse-oriented Brassard.

They acquired a center who they believe will be a better match against bigger, physical pivots and thus alleviate some of the burden on Stepan, whom coach Alain Vigneault had come to rely on almost exclusively — and ultimately to No. 21’s detriment — the last two years in power-against-power matchups.